sorry forgot these. The Zhenterium is the name of a faction or political party if you will that includes many of the leaders(but not all) of the city of Zhentil Keep. There are several splinter groups and infighting is common between them in the different denominations of the worship of Bane.
It is about 30 mins till sunset. So darkness will be upon you about half way through the ride back to town. The woodsman have 10 healthy and 3 walking wounded in the group along with the near dead and dead.

The Exalted One won't be getting his message! Are we still going to escort the caravan halfway then turn and go to the logging camp?

Sounds like we need to head to the ruins at some point for Hingatuli.

Orcs, Red Dragons, Fighting Trees ..... well, he DID want an adventure!

The previous plan seems OK to Rat, but perhaps there is now no reason to ride the hour back since we have already had the "talk".

Should we take our dogs and head out. We can make the log camp an hour after nightfall. While the Orcs are not the real issue, getting rid of them will make things easier, upset some of the "opponents'" plans, give us time to strengthen, and ...........

..... to head directly to the logging camp!

I think the wagon train is safe enough to make their journey back home and it would give us enough time to replenish spells, heal wounds etc.

It sounds like most people want to head off on our own.

Two questions remain:
1. Do we stop and rest? I think two others said yes to this, so we will probably do that.
2. Where do we go?

The logging camp was suggested as a place to find shelter. I'm concerned about going right back to the place where all the orcs are/were. Does that make sense? After all, our goal is not to kill orcs, (or be killed by them!) but rather to figure out what is going on - presumably by following Hingatuli's vision. Walking into the orcs nest might not be the best choice. Might.

At this point I think we need to see answers to the other questions I asked. If the camp is in the general direction of the ruins then it would probably be a good spot to spend the night. If it is not in the right direction, we need to find an alternative. At least I don't see any reason why we would want to backtrack.

So, I'm thinking that as soon as we know about locations, we pick our direction, head out, and quickly find a sheltered place to rest - whether that is the camp or not.

Does that sound reasonable?

Finally - not counting potions, what healing spells, if any, does the group have? Perhaps we could use the spell to heal a wound before we then rest and regain new spells for the day. Also - who is wounded? Anvil has a nasty gash to the leg.

SD - I'm not sure if you saw the earlier question:

Where are things in rlation to each other?

The stream with orc caves is to the north.
The ruins?
The camp?
Town?

In what direction are these various locations? Is the camp on the way to the ruins? Are the ruins in the Wasted part of the woods that Carus discussed? I'm assuming so.

town is to the west in the foothills of the mountains the road you traveled went east twisted woods are north of the road then road then turned south east and split one went due east to the bridge and creek the other continued SE for some ways and the turned mostly to the east toward the camp. this make the creek north and the woods more NW. Best place to get into the twisted area is where you first entered it(the tree) the ruins are generally N NE from there the creek at the bridge turns back into the twisted area and will flow in a W NW direction back to the mountains.

Thanks for the info - it seems the lack of a map is the biggest problem! I have not been keeping close track of exactly where we went.

So - we probably want to divert from the road at the easiest point - as you noted that seems to be approx. where we left it before. Is that close to wehre the road turned SE? Based on the very crude map I drew myself that seemed like it might be the right spot. Also, we will be looking for some place to seek shelter for 8 hours or so. We'd want a bit of protection - and preferably and ability to see for a little ways. Did we notice anything like that on the first trip? If not, just be aware it is what we are looking for.

To the group - ok, based on the answer it seems the camp is off to the SE and we want to go N/NE. Thus I would think that the camp does not make sense. I will post based on this, but as always, speak up to protest. Plans can change.

One more thing - anyone want to make up a schedule for who takes watch at what time? Keep in mind spellcasters need to study and clerics need to pray.

I guess I have a little free time today . . .

Depending on the ability to cross the stream - it seems to me we have two choices:
1. Go through the wilds to try and find the fort.
2. Go to the ford which is near the orc caves.

I'm inclined to go to the ford - if the stream is crossable at other locations as long as you don't have a wagon, I would suggest trying to cross before the ford and picking up the wagon ruts on the other side - trying to avoid the orcs if possible. If it isn't possible, we try to get through with a minimum of confrontation.

But I'm also open to wandering the woods if others prefer.

likes the ford crossing (Nomad) best.

I don't mind heading to the ford.

T'Sal hasn't used her spell yet so I don't think I need to study again. I could take an early watch this way in case I use the spell on my watch I will have time to re-learn it.

..... Hingatuli still prefers going to the camp.

My thinking is that the camp is abandoned and the Orcs have gone on to other areas and would not be lingering about as there is a plan to attack other areas.

This would provide one good night's sleep and the opportunity to gather any clues and especially any hints from our dieties if we take some time of devotion.

I think that if we head through the woods, go to the ford or wherever that we will end up in a night fight or dawn fight before we are really prepared for a fight.

But I will go with whatever the group decides on direction.

The camp still?

Well, it isn't that far out of the way. That is a fairly good reason to think they might have left. Perhaps they have also left the bridge area - we might still be able to cross there and avoid the ford area and the caves all together.

Or the bridge could be a good ambush site. I'll post something soon. All ideas put into consideration.

Ok, I posted. As always, speak up - we can always change plans. At least until the DM has launched things at us. At that point you only get to blame me.

I did pick going back to the camp. It had some support before, plus Hammer made a good argument for why the orcs might be gone. It isn't far out of the way and is the best shelter we know about. It is close enough we still have all options open for the morning. Plus, as Hingatuli's vision is our guide at the moment, it seemed to make sense to give his words some extra weight.

However, Anvil is concerned about walking back into the battle zone. I put the comment in about the smoke to give us a chance to back out again if it looks bad. Let me know how you want to react if it is smoky still.

Should we try the bridge in the morning?

Also, I'm leaving it up to someone else to post a schedule for night watch. Earlier comments about studying, etc. were good. Don't forge the dogs.

I hope this worked.